8,300 kilos of banned firecrackers seized from warehouse near Gurugram

Officials from the Chief Minister’s flying squad seized 8,343 kilograms of traditional firecrackers from a warehouse in Dabodha village in Farrukhnagar, in what is described by them as the largest consignment of banned crackers ever to be seized in Haryana

Police officers privy to the details said on Saturday that the warehouse, located nearly 42 kilometres from Gurugram, was first raided on October 12, and over three days, officials from the flying squad and the local police seized the consignment of crackers that was stashed in five separate rooms at the facility.

The officers put the estimated cost of the firecrackers at Rs1 crore in the retail market, and added that the consignment was brought from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, which is known for manufacturing firecrackers.

On October 5, the Haryana government banned manufacturing, sales and use of all types of crackers excluding the green crackers. However, Hindustan Times reported on Saturday that the sale of firecrackers — both traditional and green — were being sold openly a the wholesale market in Gadoli.

Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police (CM flying squad), said, “The whole warehouse was filled with firecrackers. The owner had a licence for selling only green crackers, but had stored the prohibited crackers and was selling them.”

“It was the largest seizure of crackers ever in Haryana,” said Yadav.

Officers said only one room at the seven-acre warehouse had green crackers, and five others were filled with the traditional crackers that are banned. They added that it took them three days to unearth the entire stash of crackers, and added that they were meant to be sold in the Delhi-NCR for the festival of Diwali.

A senior police officer, who asked not to be named, said that the warehouse owner was going to send the stock to various distributors across the NCR in a couple of days.

“Boxes and sacks filled firecrackers were to sent to the distributors. Some of it was unsold stock from last year,” he said, and added that a large number of people were rushing to the village to buy crackers, and that is how they got a tip-off about the warehouse.

Some buyers were present at the warehouse when the officers reached there on October 12 evening. They summoned the owner of the warehouse, and had to stop operations since there was no electricity. The next day, the officers continued the seizure and collection of samples from the spot, the officer said.

He added that the owner had kept a few kilos of green crackers in one room to mislead the police.

“The owner had a licence to store and sell green crackers that was valid up to March 31, 2023,” he said, and added that the owner was allowed to go after preliminary investigation and asked to appear before the team on the morning of October 13.

He returned in the afternoon by which time the police had start seizing the banned crackers at the warehouse. “The seizure and collection of samples continued till Friday night,” the officer said.

An FIR was registered at the Farrukhnagar police station on Friday night under sections 5 (making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances), 9B (manufacturing, possessing or importing explosive by contravening prohibition) of The Explosives Act and sections 188 and 286 of Indian Penal Code, police officer said.

The warehouse owner,however, has not been arrested yet, a flying squad officer said.

“More than two years ago Goods and Services Tax officials had taken action against the warehouse owner in alleged tax evasion case related to sale of Chinese crackers in Faridabad,” he added.

On October 13, a CM flying squad team had seized 300 kilograms of prohibited crackers from Sector-37B.